PONTYPOOL—I got it. At least I think I got it.

Okay, then, you looking for a zombie movie of a different stripe? A zombie movie that hits all the key requirements but also makes you think? If no, then please do NOT watch PONTYPOOL and then grouse about how “lame” it is, as I’ve seen so many online reviewers have done. Just because you don’t get it or it isn’t your cup of tea doesn’t make it lame. It’s a sharp picture, well acted, atmospheric, witty and insidiously satirical. But what’s it about, you ask? Well, it’s about . . . Alright, here’s what I THINK it’s about.

A contagion that reduces people to a zombie-like state, complete with cannibalistic tendencies, breaks out in the Canadian province of Pontypool. We watch, or more frequently HEAR, the chaotic events as the epidemic unfolds through the “ears” of three characters working the overnight shift at a smalltime radio station. So what’s not to get about that? Sounds straightforward enough, right? Yeah, all THAT does, and is. Where the film veers into new and unexplored territory is the means by which the contagion is spread: by WORDS. Or maybe it’s by THOUGHTS. I’m not sure, and that’s okay. Watch the movie for yourselves and make up your own minds. Minds? Minds. Miiiiinds . . .